


The Caroline Chronicles

by glaciya



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Meet-Cute, Mistaken Identity, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2019-12-30 16:16:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18318833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glaciya/pseuds/glaciya
Summary: Tim runs into Jason while he's disguised as Caroline Hill. Jason doesn't see through the disguise and becomes increasingly fond of this mysterious woman. Shenanigans Ensue.------Tim scowls at Jason’s innocent act. “Miss?” he repeats, thinking for a moment Jason is mocking his disguise.“Uh, Mrs. or- fuck- it’s probably, Doctor, right?”“You…” don’t know who I am, Tim realizes. “You can call me Caroline.”“It’s nice to meet you Caroline,” Jason says, and Tim almost laughs at how absurd it is to have Jason being polite to him. “I’m Red Hood.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SociallyAwkwardFox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SociallyAwkwardFox/gifts).



> This was a birthday gift for a darling friend of mine :)
> 
> Updates will be slow, but I'm definitely committed to this story :D

Becoming Caroline Hill doesn’t take much. Tim’s face and lean figure have always made him androgynous and, with a little makeup here and there to make his lips look fuller, his lashes longer, and his jawline slimmer, that neutral border switches to feminine. Light padding on his chest, a voice modulator disguised as a necklace, a sandy blonde wig, and scrubs with a lab coat thrown over his shoulders complete the look.

He has a fake I.D and enough medical knowledge to get by if anyone should question Caroline’s sudden presence there. As long as no one thinks to check the systems for a Caroline Hill, Tim should be in the clear.

He sneaks in through one of the side entrances, one usually used by employees that need to step out for a smoke break, and smiles to the security guard sitting on a chair near the door. The guard blinks sleepily at Tim as he gives him a little wave, and with that Tim has made it into the building.

It’s past midnight, so the hospital crew is down to the nightshift, with all the patients asleep in their rooms. Anyone Tim happens to pass doesn’t question his confident stride as he follows the directions he’d memorized from Dick earlier to Dr. Kellan’s office.

The only time his steps falter is when he turns to corner to find the door to Dr. Kellan’s office already open, with the janitor gathering trash from the small can beside the desk. He gives Tim-Caroline- a frown when he spots him.

“Can I help you?”

Tim smiles as his palms start to sweat. “I just came to grab something Dr. Kellan forgot earlier. I didn’t realize anyone else would be in here.” He’s thankful for the voice modulator around his neck so he doesn’t have to worry about forcing his voice to go higher than its natural state.

The janitor waves him forward. “Well come on in.”

“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to get in your way. I’ll wait until you’re finished.”

“Nonsense, I’ll still be a few minutes since Dr. Kellan is particular about how his office should be cleaned.”

Knowing it’ll be more suspicious if he keeps refusing, Tim relents. “Okay then,” he says. “I’ll just…” He slides past the janitor and his cart of cleaning supplies, and makes his way behind Dr. Kellan’s desk where he hopes the janitor won’t have a clear sight of what he’s about to be doing.

He crouches down behind the desk and rifles through the drawers under the pretense of searching through them while he watches the janitor out of the corner of his eye. He comes very close to scowling when the janitor seems perfectly fine with watching Tim instead of getting back to work.

There’s nothing in the first drawer that would make much sense for Dr. Kellan to miss, so Tim closes that one and opens the one below it. He can’t help the near silent sigh of relief that slips out when the janitor turns to wipe down the bookshelf in the corner of the room.

“What did you say you were looking for again?”

“Hmm?”

“You said you were looking for something Dr. Kellan forgot here earlier. What was it?”

“Oh. Umm, it was this!” Tim panics, grabbing a random book from inside the drawer and waving it in at the janitor excitedly. He lets it slip through his fingers and onto the floor. “Whoops,” he says while crouching down to grab it. 

 Successfully hidden from view, Tim is safe to slide the recording device Barbara gave him out of his pocket and stick it under the desk, and afterward allows himself a quick secretive smile. Mission accomplished.

“Well I better be going then,” Tim says brightly. “Have a nice rest of your night!”

“Goodnight,” the janitor calls after him, but Tim is already out of the office and heading back toward the exit. He wants to leave the hospital and take off his disguise as soon as possible. The bra and padding are starting to make his chest itch and the wig is a weird additional weight over his scalp he’d like to be rid of.

“Alright O, you’re all set to eavesdrop to your heart’s desire,” he whispers once he’s safe back into the alley.

“Thank you,” Barbara’s voice sounds in his ear. “Now we can see if he’s really working with Scarecrow or not.”

“I’m sure he is, if you have a feeling about it. Your intuition isn’t often wrong.”

“Is it ever? I can’t remember a time it’s actually been wrong. Hmm. Strange.” They both laugh before Barbara continues, “Go home and get some rest, Tim. I’ll work on those upgrades for you as a thank you.”

“You’re the best,” Tim says.

He pulls the communicator out of his ear and slides it into his pocket with a relieved sigh. He heads toward the street, considering his options for the rest of the night. It’s still relatively early for his schedule. On any other night he wouldn’t be turning in for hours, but tonight he figures Gotham can handle a few hours without Red Robin watching over it. He can use the extra time to get some laundry done, catch up on some of his shows, and clean his-

Out of the corner of his eye he spots a shadow.

The shadow says, “Hey.”

And Tim replies, “What the fuck?”

Because Red Hood himself is standing there, leaning against the brick wall of a building, casually like he’d been waiting for Tim to finish up his mission for the night. Except he shouldn’t have known Tim would be here tonight in the first place.

“Listen Miss, I’m sorta in a pickle here and I need help. You can say no, of course, I won’t hurt you.” Jason holds his hands up, palms facing up to show he’s unarmed, as if that would make him any less deadly.

Tim scowls at Jason’s innocent act. “Miss?” he repeats, thinking for a moment Jason is mocking his disguise.

“Uh, Mrs. or- fuck- it’s probably, Doctor, right?”

“You…”  _don’t know who I am_ , Tim realizes. “You can call me Caroline.”

“It’s nice to meet you Caroline,” Jason says, and Tim almost laughs at how absurd it is to have Jason being polite to him. “I’m Red Hood.”

They don’t shake hands and Tim is thankful for that because he’s not so sure he could hold back his laughter then.

“What can I help you with, Mr. Hood?”

“Okay so, it’s _no big deal_ , but I may have a bullet stuck in my shoulder and I can’t reach it myself obviously, so I need help. And it’s totally fine, I’m not dying or anything. It’s just…slightly uncomfortable.”

“I know you’re not dying,” Tim says impatiently. He wants to leave this whole entire situation as soon as possible. “I’m assuming you brought tools with you?”

“What?” he snaps when Jason stares at him without moving.

Jason shakes his head, reaching into his utility belt with careful movements to pull out what all he brought for Tim. “Nothing. I just thought it’d take longer to convince you to help me,” he says and before Tim can fully start to panic he adds, “but then again. You do work in a hospital. I’m sure you see all types of crazy shit on a day to day basis.” Jason turns from him then and Tim gets a quick glance of the hole in the back of Jason’s jacket, where the bullet must have pierced through the material. Then, Jason’s shrugging it off with a small grunt of pain. Tim considers reaching out to help him, but can’t convince his hands to move from his sides just yet.

“Oh yeah,” he agrees. “I work in the emergency room. In Gotham, bullet wounds are about as common as paper cuts.” He eyes the gun holstered on Jason’s hip. “I’m sure you’re well aware.”

Jason chuckles darkly. “If you’re able to treat someone I’ve shot, I must have missed my target.”

Tim scoffs. “Oh, calm down. Shooting guns at people doesn’t make you cool.” He rips Jason’s undershirt quickly and feels Jason tense beneath his fingers.

“Jesus, you sound like-”

“Shh,” Tim interrupts him, because he knows what Jason is about to say and he most certainly doesn’t want to hear it. “Let me focus.” And Jason, miraculously, listens to him.

Afterword, the only sounds Jason can seem to make are harsh, wheezing pants through his teeth, Tim has blood on his hands, the air smells like disinfectant, and there’s a bullet laying on the ground by Tim’s feet.

Jason doesn’t ask, but Tim places gauze over the small hole in Jason’s back and helps him shrug his jacket back on. Tim reasons with himself that, even though he would normally never do such a thing, Caroline Hill might. Jason seems to appreciate it. He even mutters a thank you to Tim after. Tim didn’t even know Jason knew that word before now.

“No need to thank me,” Tim says through a fake smile. “It’s my job to help people.”

“You weren’t on the clock just then,” Jason points out, and Tim can hear humor in his voice.

Tim rolls his eyes. “Yeah, well maybe I didn’t want to risk making you angry if I said no.”

“Nah. You haven’t shown any signs of being scared of me once this entire time.” He sounds impressed. “I think you’re just a good person.”

There’s a lull in conversation then because, for a moment, all Tim can do is stare back at Jason, like some invisible force has wired his jaw shut. When he does manage to work his voice box, all that comes out is a strange squeaking noise.

Jason reaches toward Tim and Tim, who remembers with vivid clarity just how hard those fingers can grip him, takes a quick step back out of Jason’s reach. Jason’s hand hovers in the air between them, but thankfully he doesn’t move to break the new space Tim set up between them.

“I should get going,” Tim says. “I’ve got stuff and things to do.”

“Stuff and things,” Jason repeats. His hand drops down by his side. “Got it.”

Tim takes his escape where he can get it, turning and setting a brisk pace in the opposite direction of where Jason stands. He’s already planning a longer, convoluted route home to back sure Jason can’t follow him.

“I won’t forget this Caroline,” Jason calls after him. “I’ll pay you back!”

Tim snorts at that, making the mistake of thinking Jason and Caroline will never possibly meet up again.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your amazing feedback on this story! I was pleasantly surprised by how many people liked it just from the first chapter :D
> 
> Enjoy some more Caroline/Jason Shenanigans !

“This is the last time I’m playing dress up for you,” Tim hisses, leaning heavily against the bathroom stall door. His heart is still pounding from the close call earlier when Dr. Kellan nearly walked in on him crouched behind his desk to retrieve the recorder. Luckily Barbara spotted him through the hospital security feed in time to warn Tim. “I thought you said he left an hour ago.”

“He did,” Barbara says, her voice tinny through the communicator in Tim’s ear. “He must have come back for something. Sorry, Tim.”

“It’s not your fault he’s forgetful.” He grins. “Your fault I’m here in the first place, though.”

“Oh sure.” She laughs. “Like you’d rather be anywhere else than right in the middle of a big case.”

“You got me,” he says, straightening. His breathing has finally gone back to a somewhat normal rhythm and he thinks it’s safe for him to leave without looking too frazzled and suspicious. “Want me to drop the recorder off at the tower on my way home?”

“Yes please,” she says. “Hopefully my lead checks out and this guy is the one who’s been feeding Scarecrow information on the patients here.”

“Part of me hopes that Scarecrow is figuring this out on his own somehow,” Tim admits, stepping out of the stall. The bathroom he’d rushed into is secluded enough for him to be completely alone this time of night, but he keeps his voice low just in case. “I hate to think that someone went to school for years and specialized in a licence to help people just to betray their trust.”

“Greed makes shitty people do shitty things.”

“But he’s a Doctor,” Tim says, checking his reflection and tucking back a blonde strand that escaped the ponytail behind his ear. “He’s not exactly on a low class salary.”

Barbara laughs again. This time it’s a cold sound. “It wouldn’t be enough for some people.”

Tim scoffs. “Can’t imagine putting a dollar sign on someone’s trust in you to help them.”

There’s a pause then, “Maybe it’s not about the money for him, or whoever this is. We don’t know for sure it’s Kellan yet anyway.”

Tim watches himself frown in the mirror. “What do you mean?”

“Sometimes people do these things simply because they like hurting people. They don’t have an ulterior motive besides cruelty,” she says, and Tim knows without a doubt who she’s talking about.

“Yeah,” Tim agrees, hearing the echoes of maniacal laughter in his head.

“Though,” Barbara starts in a noticeably brighter voice, “if people weren’t shitty and cruel, then what would we spend our free time doing instead?”

“Drugs,” Tim jokes and smiles when he hears Barbara chuckle.

“Lucky there’s a plethora of shitty people in Gotham then.”

“Yeah. Lucky us.”

“Heads up,” Barbara says suddenly. “There’s-”

A knock on the door interrupts her. “Janitor!” a voice calls before a man with dark hair peeks his head in. “Oh,” he says, spotting Tim. “It’s you again.”

“He recognizes you?” Barbara asks in his ear. “Shit.”

“Yeah,” Tim agrees with both of them in a sigh.

The janitor comes all the way in the room with his cart in tow. Tim hadn’t gotten a good look at him last time, too busy panicking to really take him in, but this time he’s bordering on cautious, and has time to take in more than just his uniform and yellow cart.

He’s a lean man, tall and thin. His brown hair is messy like it needs brushed and he has bags under his pale eyes. He looks like he doesn’t take much care of himself, but there are wrinkles starting to form just above his cheeks, like he smiles often.

“Did Dr. Kellan make you come by late again?” He frowns. “I just saw him when I was cleaning his office.”

“Oh no,” Tim laughs, thinking. “It was my own fault this time. I forgot my phone.” He taps the front pocket of his scrubs, hoping the scrubs hide that he doesn’t actually have anything in them. He wouldn’t risk bringing his personal or Red Robin phone as Caroline in case he loses it somehow.

“Picking up bad habits from your mentors, I see.” The janitor jokes, showing off a wide smile. “I don’t think I caught your name last time?”

“It’s Caroline,” Tim says. “Caroline Hill.”

“Tyler Grant,” he replies. He holds out his hand and waits for Tim to take it before he says, “It’s nice to meet you Caroline.”

“Likewise,” Tim says, trying to sound sincere. Tyler is nice, but Tim really prefers staying unmemorable during his visit here in case he needed to come back. Hopefully Tyler won’t start asking around about Caroline. “I’d better get going,” he adds, escape on his mind. “Early day tomorrow.”

Tyler nods, stepping aside and pushing his cart out of Tim’s way. “I’ll see you around, Caroline.”

* * *

This time when the shadows two alleyways down from the hospital start to shift, Tim is ready for it. He casts a quick glance around to make sure there are no unwitting Gothamites around to hear him before he rounds on the moving shadow.

“You didn’t let yourself get shot again, did you?” he asks.

“What the-” Jason squeaks and clears his throat, stepping out into the dim glow cast by a street light. “How did you know I was there?” he says in a much deeper voice. “I was...concealed.” He looks back into the shadows as if to double check.

“You are huge and wearing bright red,” Tim points out helpfully.

“Most people can’t hear or see me unless I want them to.”

“I’m not most people.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to see that,” Jason says in a way that sounds too much like appreciation to Tim for comfort.

He takes a step back from Jason, knowing the chances of Jason following him out toward the semi-busy streets are less likely. “Well I should be going. I’ve gotta…” he trails off and waves a hand vaguely.

“Do your mysterious stuff and things,” Jason suggests, dry humor in his voice.

“Yes,” Tim says, flushing. Apparently something about Jason makes it hard for Tim to think on his feet. “Lots of stuff. Many things.” He takes another step back.

Jason snorts. “Can I give you something first?”

Tim halts in his tracks, staring at Jason. “What could you give me that I’d want?” It slips out harsher than he means it to and Tim almost apologizes immediately, if Jason didn’t cut him off with a laugh.

“See? That’s what I like about you,” Jason says, and starts digging in his utility belt without explaining what exactly he means by it.

He pulls various weapons and tools out of the packs, muttering to himself as he searches for whatever it is he brought for Caroline while Tim watches, feeling vaguely like he has stumbled into a fever dream.

While the two of them don’t have an antagonistic relationship with each other anymore- thanks to the partial apology Jason tried to give him several months back; the one Tim interrupted halfway through because Tim couldn't stand to see the guilty look on Jason’s face any longer-the two of them are not exactly friends. Though Tim knows now Jason’s snark and attitude toward him is less personal and more to do with his relationship to Bruce.

Still, seeing Jason when he’s not doing whatever he can to get under Bruce’s skin is an experience in itself.

“Here it is, thank fuck. Thought I’d lost it,” Jason says, holding out... _something_ for Tim. “It’s not gonna bite,” he insists when Tim stares at it. “Well, it won’t bite _you_ anyway.”

Intrigued, Tim asks, “What does that mean?” as he grabs it.

It’s small, a little shorter than Tim’s middle finger and about an inch wide. It’s made of a cool silver metal and appears to have four buttons along one side and slits along the opposite side.

“Is this some sort of Swiss army knife?” Tim says, raising it up close to his face to inspect a tiny hole in the top. He jumps when Jason reaches out and tugs it away from him with surprisingly gentle hands.

“Sorry,” Jason says. “I don’t want you pressing the button that activates the pepper spray while you’re pointing it at your face.”

“A Swiss army knife modified to have a pepper spray option?” Tim asks, trying to hide his excitement between a more skeptical tone. He imagines a medical student wouldn’t be as excited about receiving a weapon from a relative stranger as Tim is as a vigilante.

“It has a few more modifications than that.” Jason gives him a little smirk that tells him he wasn’t very successful in concealing his interest. “Let me show you.”

Jason guides Tim through the first three buttons, pointing out the first button and mentioning how the pepper spray inside is the kind that will stain, the second button that allows a small but rather sharp blade to pop out of the bottom, and the third, which will shoot a small taser dart out of the hole in the top rather than the pepper spray.

Tim whistles, awed when Jason demonstrated the taser. “Where did you get this?”

Jason shrugs, fiddling with the tiny weapon of mass destruction in his hands. “I make them.”

“Them? There’s more of these out there?”

“A few. Yeah.” Jason holds it out and Tim accepts it greedily. “I give them to people I think might need it sometime. It’s Gotham. So, you never know.”

Tim nods. At least that quells the small worry he had that Jason was making his money by selling these to anyone who has the cash. It’s still a mystery to him how Jason is making money to fund his nighttime activities. “And here I thought I was special,” he says as a joke. He’s considering the fourth button and wondering what it could do when Jason mutters, so he almost doesn’t catch him speaking.

“You are special.”

Tim blinks. “What was that?” he asks, sure he misheard.

Jason clears his throat and looks somewhere off to the left. “I said, it is special.”

“Oh.” That makes more sense anyway, Tim thinks, flushing. “How so?”

“The fourth button. Press it five times rapidly.” He gives an impatient gesture when Tim stares at it dubiously. “I already said it won’t bite you.”

After a moment of hesitation Tim decides to trust Jason in this, despite logic telling him what a stupid idea it is to press an unfamiliar button on a weapon that’s meant to hurt.

He presses the button five times like Jason said and hears a phone start to ring and vibrate in Jason’s pocket.

Jason pulls the phone out and moves close to Tim, close enough that Tim can clearly see what’s on the screen. It’s a gps that shows the street they’re on with a red blinking dot around where Tim is standing.

It should be obvious, but Tim still doesn’t get it until Jason says, “If you ever need me, press that bottom button five times and I’ll come for you.”

Tim’s jaw goes slack and his lips part in his shock. “Why?” he asks, helplessly staring up at Jason.

Jason’s adam’s apple bobs when he swallows. “I said I’d pay you back for helping me awhile back with the bullet. You were there when I needed you, so this way I can be there for you too.”

“This isn’t-” Tim coughs when his voice cracks. “This isn’t smart. I could use this against you. Lure you into a trap, or-”

Jason interrupts him before he can continue. “The fact that you just warned me that you could potentially betray me isn’t exactly making me trust you less. Besides,” he shifts and is officially too close than what would be considered polite. “Told you last time I already knew you were a good person didn’t I, Caroline?”

The use of the name that isn’t Tim’s snaps Tim out of whatever daze Jason’s proximity trapped him in and gives him the sense to take a step back. Guilt washes through him because Jason has no idea Caroline isn’t even real. If Jason were to ever find out it’s actually Tim underneath the wig and makeup, the fragile peace between them would definitely shatter.

Though, Tim can’t say he’s worried Jason might try to attack him for the unintentional trick anymore. Seeing how he is toward people he doesn’t have a bad past or present with has made Tim’s perspective of Jason shift slightly. He’d be angry and yell, sure, but Tim doesn’t think he’d be physically aggressive toward anyone unprompted.

“You’re staring,” Jason notes after a moment. Tim doesn’t fail to notice that he doesn’t try to move closer to Tim again. “What is it?”

Tim chews his bottom lip and finds it hard to look anywhere other than his feet when he blurts, “You’re good too.”

“What?” Jason asks, his voice a mix between a squawk and a shocked laugh.

“You’re a good person,” Tim says. This time he’s brave enough to look Jason in the eye, feeling an urgency for Jason to believe him. “You care about and protect people. You’re good.”

The air between them shifts then, charge with something sharp and static; something that Tim honestly can’t tell is a good or bad thing.

“You don’t know me very well,” Jason says after a heavy silence.

Tim scowls. “If you know me well enough after two meetings to decide I’m a good person, then I can do the same to you.”

“That’s...fair.” Jason laughs again-a forced thing- and he shakes his head. “You had somewhere to be after this, didn’t you? I won’t keep you any longer.”

Tim nods, feeling strangely disappointed and not understanding why. “Stuff and things,” he jokes.

“Lots of stuff. Many things,” Jason repeats his words from earlier and gives Tim a two fingered salute. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around, Caroline.”

“I guess so,” Tim says, thinking again about how unlikely it is that Jason and Caroline will ever meet again as his watches Jason disappear back into the shadows.

* * *

“So.” Barbara wheels around to face him as soon as Tim steps out of the elevator into the tower. “You wanna tell me what that was all about?”

Tim’s eyes go wide, dread filling him as he realizes he still has the comm in his ear, and that Barbara must have heard his entire conversation with Jason.

“‘You’re a good person’,” she teases, in a breathy voice that doesn’t sound like Tim at all.

Tim groans, tugging his wig off and throwing it to the floor in frustration.


	3. Chapter 3

Tim watched a documentary once about a lone mother wolf and her pups. Her pack had been killed by hunters and she was exhausted and half-starved by the time two cougars cornered her and her babies.

Exhausted and half-starved, with her back literally pressed against a rock wall, the mother wolf fought to save her babies...and won. 

As the narrator explained that this was because she was fighting for her and her pups lives while the cougars were only looking for an easy meal, the documentary showed a slow-motion clip of the mother wolf dodging the swiping claws of one cougar while twisting to sink her teeth into the neck of the other. 

She was faster than the cougars, more vicious and deadly. Her and her pups ate their fill and then some that night.

Watching Jason fight reminds Tim of the mother wolf in that documentary. Hopelessly outnumbered, Jason allows himself to be cornered, and he becomes deadly. The hacked feed from a traffic light camera Tim’s watching him on can hardly pick up on the speed of Jason’s movements, making him a blur of red and black in the middle of a sea of Scarecrow’s goons. 

“What do you think his kill count is at tonight?” Barbara asks, throwing a few almonds in her mouth. 

Until they spotted Jason on the feed they’d originally set up to keep an eye on one of Scarecrow’s suspected hideouts, Tim and Barbara had been looking through a list of people that could have potentially given Scarecrow intel on the hospital’s patients. They’d hit a wall after Barbara’s recordings of Dr. Kellan’s office failed to find anything of note and had to start from scratch. It was a necessary, yet tenacious and painfully boring task, so they’d both welcomed Jason’s distraction. 

“I think he’s just using his fists,” Tim says, squinting at the screen. “Oh, wait no. That was definitely a knife in his hand just now.”

“Hmm. Think he needs backup?”

“There’s only six of them left. He’s been up against worse odds.”

“He’s getting tired though. Look.” Barbara points to the screen as Jason just barely manages to avoid getting clocked in the head by a baseball bat. He doesn’t avoid the swipe from a goon with his own dagger though, and Barbara and Tim both watch in horror as he slices a line straight up Jason’s forearm. 

Luckily the pain seems to wake Jason up and he manages to defeat the rest of his enemies, but the way he sags tiredly against the alley wall after shows that the renewed energy didn’t last very long.  He lifts his arm and, even through the slightly blurry feed, they can see thick drops of blood running down his arm to drip from his fingertips. 

“He’s not going to be able to stitch that up himself,” Barbara says, turning away from the screen to Tim. “And we know he’s too stubborn to call anyone for help.”

Tim drums his fingers against the computer desk. “Bruce and Damian are patrolling not too far away from that area.”

Barbara’s eyes narrow. “B and Damian around an injured Jason is a disaster waiting to happen. It’s asking for added trauma all around.”

_ Cornered animal _ , Tim thinks as he sighs. “Dick-”

“Dick just came back from an off world mission with the Titans and is resting. We are not asking him,” Barbara says so fiercely that Tim feels guilty for even suggesting it. “And Cass and Steph are off in Tokyo dealing with Lady Shiva until next week.”

“Well, Jason won’t react well to me coming to help him out either!”

Barbara gives him A Look. “I’m not asking you to go.”

“Wait,” Tim says. “ _ Wait _ .”

“Tim, he’s hurt.”

“It’s his own damn fault. I’m not doing it!”

 

* * *

 

It doesn’t take much to become Caroline Hill.

Barbara has everything he needs to form a disguise in her tower, thanks to it also serving as a base for The Birds of Prey when they all work together; makeup to soften and slightly change his features, a voice modulator, a padded bra, an over-sized sweater and leggings for clothes, and several wigs. 

“The wig I used for Caroline before is a little different than this one,” Tim says as he tugs it on over his scalp. The part is closer to the center and the shade of blonde is slightly paler than Caroline’s usual sandy blonde. He also notices it hangs a couple inches shorter, barely brushing his shoulders. “Do you think he’ll notice?”

Barbara adjusts the sweater further down over his hips. “I don’t think we have a choice but to risk it. It’s dark out and he’s injured, hopefully that will be enough to distract him.”

“Hopefully,” Tim sighs, giving himself one final glance over in the tall mirror Barbara has hanging up on the wall of the dressing room. It always amazes him how lipstick can make his lips look red and full, how blue his eyes become with some shading and longer lashes, and how soft his voice sounds. Amazes him that if he looks close enough, he can see that he’s still very much himself underneath it all. Just...different.

“Tim?” Barbara prompts.

Tim jerks. “Right. I’m ready.”

* * *

 

For being exhausted and injured, Jason makes it pretty far in the streets of Gotham before Tim can track him down. When Tim finds him, he’s somehow managed to climb up on the fire escape of an old discount movie theater and is lying on his back, his legs dangling down over the grate and his injured arm wrapped in his jacket and curled up on his chest.

 He doesn’t seem to notice Tim as he walks right up to the metal ladder that leads up to him. Tim hopes he not actually let himself be that oblivious in Gotham at night, but it’s already been apparent tonight that Jason isn’t feeling particularly responsible.

“Hey,” Tim says, and kicks at the ladder with his foot to get Jason’s attention. “Mr. Hood?”

Jason grunts and lifts his head. “Caroline?”

“Yeah.”

Jason’s head falls back down with a thump that sounds painful. “What are you doing here?”

“You left a trail of blood,” Tim lies. “I followed it.”

“Seriously? Who does that? It could have led you to trouble.”

Tim grins. “It did.”

There’s a pause then, “Oh ha, ha.”

“Are you gonna come down anytime soon, or do you want me to come up there?”

Jason grunts and uses his good hand to push himself up. “I’ll come down. I’ve got a place nearby I was headed to before I got too dizzy.”

Tim frowns as he watches Jason descend down the ladder ungracefully. “What happened tonight?”

“You’ve heard of the villain Scarecrow right?” Jason asks when he’s back on the ground. He waits until Tim nods before he continues. “He escaped from Arkham Asylum a couple months back and has been injecting people with a new fear gas venom that places them in a sort of coma where they’re forced to live through nightmares over and over.”

“That’s horrible,” Tim says, making himself sound surprised despite having already known this. It strikes him as funny that Jason is working the very same case Tim is with Barbara, without any of them knowing it. Not surprising though, as the bat-clan has never been very good at communicating. 

“Fucked up is what it is.” Jason begins to lead them around the back of the building. “He’s been targeting old victims of his fear gas to test this new chemical on, but his attacks have been too sporadic for me to see a pattern and predict his next target.” 

Tim nods, Barbara had figured this out and even narrowed the victim list down to the people who had been going to see Dr. Kellan for therapy after the trauma Scarecrow put them through. That was as far as she got predicting Scarecrow’s movements, but if Jason’s explanation is going where Tim thinks it is… 

“Did you find out who his next target is?”

“Better than that.” Jason stops suddenly when they’re in the back alley behind the theater to stare at Tim. “Hey...did you do something different with your hair?”

“Haircut,” Tim squeaks out. “I got a haircut.”

“Oh.” Jason says. He continues to stare and Tim desperately wishes Jason wasn’t wearing his helm tonight, so he could see what kind of expression is on his face. 

Tim clears his throat. “You were telling me about Scarecrow?” he prompts. 

“Let’s get inside first,” Jason says, and promptly kicks a large dumpster, sending it skidding several feet in front of them to reveal a grey door. 

“Secret entrance,” he says and Tim rolls his eyes at him.

They enter the theater and Jason leads them behind the concession stand, into what must have acted as a break room and office before. Now though, Jason has made it his own, replacing the office computer with his own tech, shoving a twin sized mattress into a corner, and adding what appears to be a small armory with all his weapons and gear into the break room. 

Jason shoves a few protein bar wrappers to the ground as he sits at one of the circular break room tables. “Sorry for the mess,” he says wryly. “Wasn’t expecting company.”

“It’s okay,” Tim says, taking it all in.Jason’s always been the hardest of the bats to track down, even for Barbara. He moves around from place to place at random, and sets up virus traps in most of his software. And yet he’s allowing Caroline into one of his more frequently used safehouses. Something heavy starts to settle in Tim’s gut. It feels an awful lot like guilt.

“I can stitch up your arm if you want,” he says because he needs a distraction.

“First aid kit is over there.” Jason waves vaguely at the break room cupboards behind him. “You mind if I get comfortable?”

“Nope,” Tim says, searching through the cabinets. He doesn’t really pay much attention to the rustling sounds behind him, nor to the clicking sound of a lock releasing before something heavy thuds to the ground. “Found it!” he says, turning and looking right at Jason's bare face. 

“Hi,” Jason says, grinning.

“Hi,” Tim says, then, “What.”

“Am I really so handsome you can’t form a full sentence?” Jason slouches back in his seat, posture straight and legs spread, all suave charm...up until he tries to place his hands behind his head and winces when he moves his injured arm.

Tim hurries over to him with the first aid kit. “There’s a reason they call it a secret identity. You’re supposed to keep it a secret.”

“Yeah, around the bad guys and general public. Not around my friends.” He shrugs, thankfully ignorant of Tim’s flustered panic. “I figure tonight you’re pretty much my best friend.”

“Okay,” Tim says. “Okay.”

Jason considers him, chewing on his bottom lip, before he says, “I’m Jason, by the way.”

“Oh.” Right-he’s not supposed to already know that. “It’s nice to meet you, Jason,” he adds and absolutely does not deserve the way Jason grins at him again in response. “Can I see your arm?’

He tries to keep his expression neutral as Jason unties his makeshift tourniquet, but his stomach is rolling heavier and heavier with guilt as each second passes. He wishes Jason didn’t hate him so much, especially when Tim hasn’t changed anything about his personality while he’s been Caroline, then he could have come and helped Jason himself, without the disguise. 

Never again, he tells himself for the third time since he first dawned Caroline’s disguise, and then promptly forgets his regret when he sees in the extent of Jason’s wound.

“Man, they really got you good,” he winces in sympathy as he inspects the nasty gash along Jason’s forearm. It’s pretty deep, but at least the bleeding is starting to clot. “How did they get close enough to you to give you this?”

“I was sloppy tonight,” Jason says, and hisses when Tim sprays the wound with a healthy dose of disinfectant. 

“Sorry,” Tim mutters, dabbing away excess blood as gently as possible. “Why were you sloppy?” 

It’s a question he’s been wondering all night. All of their training has taught them never to get in the very situation Jason was in earlier tonight. He was fighting exhausted and outnumbered, and let himself get injured while he had no backup. Does Jason have a habit of backing himself into a corner surrounded by people who want to kill him? 

“Haven’t slept much,” Jason says, watching warily as Tim pulls out the supplies he needs to begin stitching Jason’s arm. “Whenever I start a case, especially one where I know more people are about to be hurt, it’s hard to stop until I solve it. It’s like an itch I can’t scratch.”

Tim understands that feeling deep within his bones, but Caroline wouldn’t, so he only rolls his eyes. “Was whatever you found tonight worth it?”

“Found a list of Scarecrow’s future targets, so I’d say so.”

Tim’s eyes widen and he leans forward unconsciously. “Jason, that’s amazing.” With that information, Jason leaps several steps ahead of Barbara and Tim's investigation. They could intercept Scarecrow before he hurt anyone else, and take a sample of his toxin from him to form an antidote and finally wake his victims up. 

Unexpectedly, Jason’s cheeks begin to darken and his eyes dart down to the table. Tim frowns and follows his gaze.

In his excitement, Tim has grabbed onto Jason’s hand,  _ and intertwined their fingers. _

As Tim watches in horror, Jason’s fingers twitch and then fall limp again, as if he’s unsure of what to do with himself. The movement snaps Tim out of his daze and he jerks back away from Jason, going as far as skidding his chair back several feet to put even more space between them.

“Alcohol,” Tim blurts as he stands, voice high. “We’re going to need alcohol for the stitches.”

“Cabinets. Top right,” Jason says, voice just as high.

 

* * *

 

The alcohol Jason had in his cabinets turned out to be whiskey, instead of rubbing alcohol like Tim had been hoping for. Still, he takes a long gulp whenever Jason offers him the bottle, hoping it’ll slow his pulse down enough for him to focus. 

Jason drinks about three times more than him, though Tim can hardly blame him. Stitches hurt like a bitch if you don’t have something to numb the pain. 

The alcohol and lack of sleep combined leaves Jason in an exhausted, quiet state as Tim works. By the time he’s securing the wrapping over the stitches, Jason’s head is pillowed in his good arm and he’s watching Tim through half lidded eyes.

“Jason?” Tim calls gently before he gets up to leave.

“Mmm?”

“Promise me something.”

Jason blinks a few times until his gaze becomes clearer. “Yeah?”

“Don’t do this to yourself again, okay? I know you have more friends than just me. You need to ask them for help before you continue this case.”

“Promise,” Jason agrees, and Tim thinks he means it. “Thank you Caroline.”

“You're welcome,” Tim says, and somehow it feels more like an apology than anything. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your patience and support with this work <3 I'm hoping to buckle down on this fic starting next week and finish it in my drafts at least by the end of this year, which means something closer to biweekly updates for ya'll instead of bimonthly xD Fingers crossed!

Tim knows he’s in trouble as soon as he steps into the batcave.

It’s filled with bats-the vigilante kind-all of them standing around the batcomputer looking over what appears to be intel on five different people taking up the computer screens. The last time they were all together like this, Joker had planted bombs across all of Gotham for them to find. He knew it had to be important when Bruce called him away from his late shift at Wayne Enterprises to come to the manor right away, but for him to not only call for help, but call for help from several people, it had to be bad. 

Dick, Damian, and Barbara are there, which isn’t surprising, but Bruce also called in Kate, Duke, Steph, Cass, and-

And Jason.

Jason standing there all casual, hip cocked with one ankle crossed over the other. His hair is left in a mess of wild curls with his helm off and tucked in the space between his arm and side.  He’s standing slightly apart from the colony, like it’s a statement. Knowing Jason, it is.

He’s watching Tim with a type of cool indifference that isn’t new. “Replacement,” he says. “You’re late to the party.”

Tim stares into those cool eyes and thinks about how he knows the way they wrinkle around the edges when he smiles. He breathes. In and out. 

“My apologies,” he says, forcing his voice to sound bright and happy. “Some of us actually have real jobs we work at for a living.”

“Was that supposed to be an insult?” Jason laughs, cold and harsh.  _ That’s not you _ . “You spend your days trapped in an office obsessing over numbers and schmoozing the many rich, selfish bastards that live in Gotham, and I earn my money fucking over the bad guys full time.”

Tim sighs. He had meant it as a joke, not an insult. He forgot their relationship isn’t the type where words didn’t come out filled with barbwire, seeking to dig in deep and draw blood. “Okay Jason,” he says and turns to Bruce, missing the frown Jason sends his way. “What’s going on?”

Bruce waves him over to the computer where Tim gets a better look at the faces and brief bios of all the people on screen. From what Tim can tell, there’s no similarities in between any of them. There’s men and women that range from what appears to be in their late fifties to one girl who looks to be no more than ten. “Who are they?”

“The list of people Scarecrow is going to target next,” Bruce says and Tim catches himself just in time to avoid shooting a wide-eyed look behind him at Jason. 

“How did you get this information?” he asks, heart thudding in his chest. 

“Jason was kind enough to pass it along.”

“Jason?” He feigns surprise. 

“I know, right?” Stephanie chirps, coming up beside him. “Someone actually felt like being a team player.”

“I’m right here,” Jason informs them. “And I’ll have you know I’m a great team player when I want to be. I just don’t often feel particularly charitable around you bunch.”

“No kidding,” Damian says. Tim can hear the sneer in his voice.

He also hears Dick let out a long breath and wonders how much bickering went on while they were waiting on Tim to get here. Probably quite a bit knowing all of them. 

“I am curious about your sudden cooperation,” Bruce notes. “I’m not sure I buy that it was purely out of the goodness of your heart.”

Tim turns in time to see Jason place a hand over his chest. “B, you wound me. Everything I do is out of the goodness of my heart.” No one says anything for a moment and Jason sighs. “Alright, you got me. A friend may have helped me realize that this case is too big for me alone and kindly advised me to seek help.” 

“A friend?” Barbara says with a raised brow. She turns too sharp eyes to Tim.

“Yeah, a friend, I have- Why are you smiling, Replacement?” 

Tim quickly schools his face. “No reason.”

Jason squints at him suspiciously but thankfully Barbara speaks again before he says anything. 

“Let’s focus, boys,” she says, the corner of her mouth twitching. “It’s good that we have a list of who he’ll be going after now and, based on the pattern he’s been following with his victims so far, we know he’ll strike sometime tonight or tomorrow night. Unfortunately, since he most likely knows by now that the Red Hood has this intel, we can’t guarantee he’ll make it easy and go in order for us, so we have no idea who on this list he’ll go after tonight.”

“It’d be nice if you had pulled your weight and found out something useful while you were undercover Drake,” Damian says, sending Tim’s heart leaping into his throat. “Maybe we’d be able to make better use of Todd’s  _ charity _ ,” he finishes with air quotes around the last word. 

“Damian,” Dick chides. “Even finding nothing helps because we were able to cross the psychiatrist from Gotham general off our suspects list.” Which- is still somehow mildly offensive and Tim would comment on it if he weren’t trying not to let his inner panic attack show on the outside.

“You were undercover at Gotham General?” Jason asks curiously.

“Yes, but Damian’s right, nothing useful came from it,” Tim speaks before anyone else can pitch in. “We’re lucky you found this before he got to anyone else,” he adds, trying to show his thanks without seeming too out of character for their relationship. So far it looks like Jason’s help has only been met with suspicion and Jason deserves better than that. Especially since Tim knows first hand just how many injuries Jason received getting the intel for them. 

Jason gives him a little grin and the tension in Tim’s shoulders relaxes by a fraction. “Finally some appreciation.”

“Let’s get back on task,” Bruce says, drawing Jason and Tim’s attention away from each other. “Scarecrow may not follow the order that he wrote the list in, but he’s too proud and too deep in this to give up now. We’ll need to split up and keep an eye on all of them until Scarecrow attacks. We catch him in the act, save his target, and get a sample of the new venom he’s been using in order to make an antidote.”

“I’ll keep watch over the kid,” Jason calls. 

“Grayson and I will handle the college professor,” Damian says. 

“Sounds good,” Dick agrees, clasping a hand over Damian’s shoulder.

“Librarian,” Cass says. “Stephanie.”

“I want to keep an eye on the college athlete, Friar,” Kate says. “Duke, you with me?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“And I’ll handle the reporter, Vicky Vale,” Bruce rumbles.

“Umm,” Tim says. “I guess I’ll just stay with Babs and-”

“No,” Bruce cuts him off. “You go with Jason and protect the girl, Molly.”

“I don’t think-”

“I don’t need a babysitter,” Jason scoffs. “I’m the reason you have this information, why can’t you just trust me for once?”

“It’s not about trust,” Bruce growls. “What if Scarecrow does go after the girl tonight? I don’t want you alone.”

“Oh.” Jason gives a little shrug. “Well...whatever, then.”

Bruce nods and glances at Tim. “Alright?”

“Of course,” Tim lies.

* * *

 

They station themselves on a rooftop across from the penthouse Molly Callaway lives in with her parents. The lights begin to flick off when they settle in for their watch. A pair of infrared binoculars allows them to watch as a woman brings Molly to bed and tucks her in. Then, the house is quiet and there’s nothing left to do but wait.

Now would be the time to tell him, Tim knows. They’re alone, and they both have some space on the roof for breathing room in case Jason needs to freak out.  _ When _ he freaks out. This thought gives Tim pause. It might not be the best idea to distract Jason while they’re on a mission. What if Scarecrow strikes in the middle of it all and they aren’t able to save the girl?

He’s just making excuses at this point. “Jason-”

“Scarecrow isn’t normally one to go after kids,” Jason interrupts him, seemingly unaware that Tim was about to speak. “I wonder if her parents are caught up in something and Molly has been dragged into their mess.”

“His first few victims this time around were patients of this psychiatrist that works at Gotham General, Dr Kellan. They started seeing him after being injected with Scarecrow's fear toxin before, so we suspected the Doctor was feeding Scarecrow intel so he could find and dose them up again.”

Jason snorts. “Uh huh. No wonder your little undercover op didn’t give you anything.”

_ It gave me you, _ Tim thinks irrationally, before Jason’s words and tone register. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means, why the hell would Scarecrow go after the same victims repeatedly? He doesn’t usually care who it is he’s scaring, as long as someone is being scared. And I know who Dr. Kellan is. He specializes in treating Scarecrow’s victims because his brother died of a heart attack ten years ago after being injected with his toxin. It was all over the papers. He’d never work with the person that killed his own family. I could have told you that and spared you all the time you wasted fucking around at Gotham General.”

“You’d say the same thing to Babs, then? Because going undercover was her idea, I was just helping out.” Tim scowls when Jason is silent in reply. His throat feels tight. “Or are you just being an asshole because I was involved?”

“I’m always an asshole, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“No you aren’t.”  _ I know you aren’t. _ “You’ve always been antagonistic toward me because I was Robin after you. It’s been years and I’m not even Robin anymore. Get over it.”

Jason whistles.“Christ Replacement, what crawled up your ass tonight? You’re not usually this touchy.” Tim can hear the grin in Jason’s voice. Too bad he’s too angry at this point for it to settle him. 

“Screw you, Jason.”

A scream cuts off whatever Jason’s reply might of been. It sounds like a child. 

“Molly,” Jason gasps as Tim scrambles for the infrared binoculars, peering through them into the penthouse they should have been watching. 

“There’s three of them inside, headed up the stairs,” Tim says, quickly spotting the red and yellow shapes. “It looks like someone is unconscious on the floor and Molly is...there! She looks like she’s hiding under something.”

“Smart girl,” Jason murmurs, pulling out his grapple gun. “Let’s do this.”

Tim pulls out his grapple gun as well, shooting it in sync with Jason. “Twenty-sixth floor, second window from the right.”

“Got it.”

They both leap from the rooftop. Jason goes first, his bulk smashing through the window while Tim follows through, tucking and rolling to land just behind Jason. He throws a smoke bomb as soon as he straightens to further confuse their attackers. 

It’s chaos, smoke fills the room before Tim has a chance to get a good look at his surroundings, but Scarecrow’s men must be more confused than him, because he hears their panicked cries from somewhere to his left. Scarecrow curses, his voice distorted behind his mask. 

“It’s the Bats!” he cries. “Spread out, don’t let them get the drop on you!”

Jason’s form is a faded shadow in front of him. Tim can tell by the way he tenses that he’s about to go after Scarecrow’s goons. There’s only three of them and even with Jason fighting by himself, Scarecrow and his men would be outmatched, so when Jason moves forward Tim goes right, hoping he can find Molly and get her out of this mess as soon as possible. 

He makes it a few steps before he nearly trips over Molly’s bed. Remembering how she looked like she was hiding under something earlier, Tim lies down on his stomach to peer under the mattress.

Sure enough, the smoke has cleared enough by now that he can make out the blurry outline of Molly, curled up in a ball with her hands over her eyes.

“Molly,” he says, loud enough to be heard over the pained grunts coming from the opposite side of the room. “Molly, it’s Red Robin. I’m going to get you out of here.”

Molly jumps when he calls her name, peering out between her fingers to squint at him and his outstretched hand. “You’re not Robin,” she says in a trembling voice. “You’re too big. And your costumes wrong.”

Tim bites back a sigh. They don’t have time for this. “I know, but I’m his friend. I’m going to help you just like he would.”

“Where is Batman?”

“He’s...fighting the bad guys,” Tim lies. “Please Molly, let me help you.”

Molly hesitates, but a loud crash on the other side of the room gets her moving right into Tim’s arms. 

Tim does sigh now, in relief as he adjusts her into a more firm grip, keeping her tucked safely against him as he rises to his feet. 

And comes face to face with Scarecrow when he turns. His hands already stretching out for Molly, vials on his gloves filled with wickedly green venom.  “Hand over the girl and we’ll let your partner go.”

_ Jason.  _ Tim spots him by the door, standing with his arms crossed. He’s pouting, with two armed men by his side and a gun pressed against the back of his helm. 

“Really Hood?” Tim says to hide his nervousness and buy time. “There’s only three of them.”

“Scarecrow’s more of a slippery bastard than I remembered.” Jason shrugs. “Brave Bob over here pulled the gun out while I was trying to pin him.”

“Shut up,” ‘Brave Bob’ seethes, jabbing the gun against his helm with a sharp clanking sound. 

Jason lets out a put out sigh at the treatment. He doesn’t seem too bothered by the danger, and Tim knows the helm will offer some level of protection, but even a shot from that close of range could put a dent in the armor and seriously injure Jason. 

“Why do you want Molly?” Tim asks.

Predictably, Scarecrow jumps at the opportunity to reveal his plans. Villains always loved talking themselves up. “Her father needs to learn that telling me no isn’t an option.”

“What was he telling you no to?” Tim shuffles to the side a little bit, putting more space between Scarecrow and Molly.

“You wanted money from him, didn’t you?” Jason calls, drawing attention to himself. “I knew it. It’s always about money.”

Tim takes another step away from Scarecrow, a larger one this time while no one is paying attention to him.

“Of course it’s always about the money you-” Scarecrow cuts himself off with a dark chuckle.  _ “You think I don’t see you?” _

Tim freezes. Molly whimpers in his ear and tightens her grip on him. “Dr. Crane-” he begins.

“Shoot him!”

“No,” Tim cries, stumbling forward as if he has a chance of making it there in time, but Jason is faster than any of them.

His head snaps back out of the guns line of sight as he jams his elbow into Brave Bob’s gut, then kicks the other guy’s knees out from under him in one smooth graceful twirl. 

Fear and relief distract Tim and he doesn’t realize Scarecrow has moved until a sharp pain pierces his neck and liquid begins to pump inside him. He gasps and has enough time to toss Molly away from him and Scarecrow, onto her mattress, before his muscles lock up.

“Red!” He hears Jason shout before Molly’s room ripples and melts away. 

Then, someone starts to scream. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for mild/vague gender dysphoria 
> 
> Also I had to leave for work earlier than I was scheduled for so this isn’t as edited as much as I would like. I’m planning to go back through the whole story this weekend though to try to catch some mistakes!

Tim wakes up in slow incriminates, feeling the chill in the room first and then the deep ache that rests throughout nearly every inch of him, discouraging him from moving at all to do anything about the temperature. There’s a heavy blanket over him, pulled up to his chest with his arms out over top. He must have kicked it up off his feet in his sleep at some point, a nasty habit that always leaves him with cold feet in the mornings. The bed beneath him is firm, but the pillow under his head is so soft he imagines it could be a cloud under him instead.

It takes him awhile to talk himself into expending the energy to open his eyes, and when he does he finds no recognition in the room he's staying in. It's incredibly clean, way more clean than any of his own rooms are, the ones that Alfred doesn't take care of anyway. There's a TV hovering on the wall in between two large bookshelves. The TV is fairly small while the bookshelves are wide and deep, making it clear that the person housing him has a definite preference over the two. There's decorative swords crossed over one of the bookshelves and plants over the other one, a green vine and a cactus with brightly colored blooms.

It's bright in the room, the light source coming from a wall of windows to his right that allows the sun to stream in on him. It puzzles him when he sees nothing but blue when he looks out it, then he makes out a small wisp of white in the right corner and determines that he must be looking at the sky. Toward the bottom of the window he can see buildings he recognizes as some of Gotham's skyscrapers. They move slowly beneath him, or rather, whatever it is Tim is in moves slowly above them.

Footsteps sound from somewhere to his left, bare but heavy like someone is making them that way on purpose. It takes a lot of arguing with himself and painfully slow movements for Tim to turn his head on the pillow to face the doorway.

Jason stands there, leaning against it, wearing a bright red hoodie and dark jeans. His feet are bare with his toes curling up on the strangely metallic looking floor.

There's an expression on his face Tim had caught part of when he began to turn his head, like a frown or a grimace, but it slides away into something more neutral before Tim can get a good look at it.

"I see Sleeping Beauty finally decided to wake up," Jason says.

It takes a couple tries for Tim to get his lips and tongue to cooperate with him enough to speak. When he manages, his voice comes out rough, feeling like gravel. "Did I get a kiss?"

Jason makes a sound somewhere between a choke and a laugh. "What?"

"Sleeping Beauty," Tim tries to explain. The words are all there in his head but he's too tired to say them all. He hopes Jason understands. "The curse."

"Oh," Jason draws the word out. "No, you needed antitoxin and a shit ton of painkillers." He bites his lip. "Maybe a little less painkillers. You're high as a kite."

"I'm flying." Tim means to gesture toward the wall of windows but only twitches his right arm a little until in flops vaguely in that direction on the bed. He's high and he's _ high _ . The thought makes him laugh quietly to himself, but it cuts off as soon as his shoulder starts shaking and pain rips through him. "Ouch."

"Yeah ouch," Jason scoffs. "You're lucky you're here to say ouch, you idiot."

Tim frowns. He doesn't like the look on Jason's face, he can tell by now it means he's about to be mean. He tells Jason as such through half-hearted mumbles and watches as Jason's expression falls very carefully neutral again. Tim isn't too sure he likes that look any better, it reminds him oddly of Bruce, but he's too tired to try to convince Jason he looks best when he smiles.

"What happened?" he asks instead. He tries to focus so he can remember what led him here, but all he gets are vague flashes of images and feelings he can't cannot piece together to form any explanation that makes sense. He remembers the sound of someone screaming, oddly distant, the color red smeared into his hands. The roar of wind in his ears as he shook against what felt like a warm brick wall that smelled like gunpowder and leather. Someone whispering in his ear, voice low and soothing. And then nothing.

Jason is tense by the door, wary for some reason. "You remember our stake-out? Protecting Molly and fighting Scarecrow?"

"Molly," Tim remembers holding her out of Scarecrows too close reach, fearing for both her and Jason and hating the helplessness he felt at that moment. "Is she alright?"

"Nothing that a few therapy sessions won't help with. A little trauma here and there builds character anyway." Jason shrugs. His voice is casual but he's still too tense for even a drugged up Tim to buy it. "What the hell were you thinking anyway? You should have gotten her out of there the moment you had her. Protecting her was the whole reason we were there in the first place."

Tim's face starts to heat up, equal parts shamed and angry. "Are you forgetting the part where you had a gun pointed at your head?"

"Yeah, so? How many times do you think I've had guns pointed at me before? How many times have you had a gun pointed at you? It's part of the gig, Tim. I thought you would have known this by now."

There's better arguments floating on the edge of his tongue. He can’t seem to latch onto them. "I was scared."

"Of what?"

"I didn't want to see you get hurt."

Jason makes a disgusted noise and turns away from Tim to look out the window. His neck and his ears are both starting to turn red. "I don't need you worrying about me."

"But it's so easy." Tim closes eyes to rest them a moment. When he opens them again, Jason is still looking out the window, mouth twisted in a frown.

"You should worry more about yourself," he says. "You're the one that ended up with a neck full of Scarecrow's fear toxin, not me."

"I take it we were able to make a cure for it then?" He'd still be comatose if not, trapped in a world of endless nightmares like all of Scarecrow's more recent victims had been.

"Yeah, there was a decent sample of it on your skin whenever we managed to get to you."

"We?"

"Dickie and the brat showed up a couple minutes after he dosed you. Dick took care of the girl while the brat and I had the pleasure of trying to stop you from clawing your own eyes out." Jason gives a wry grin. "I think you scared the kid."

Tim grimaces. "How much did Molly see?"

"Of your freak out? Not much. Dick had the sense to pull her out of the room thankfully," Jason says. "I was talking about Damian anyway. Looked scared shitless."

"I scared Damian?" Tim scoffs. "You sure it wasn't glee you saw on his face?"

"Pretty damn sure." Jason chews on his bottom lip. "You were saying-and doing- some pretty messed up stuff, Tim."

Tim's stomach drops. "Like what?"

"I don't know if I should-"

Tim glares. "You can't just say that and not tell me."

Jason runs a hand through his hair, messing it up even more to where he has a couple of white strands sticking straight up in his bangs. "Uh..I couldn't understand a lot of it, but when we had to stop you from clawing at your hands and face, you were screaming for us to get it off, so I assumed you were seeing spiders or something crawling all over you." His hand comes down from his hair so he can cross both arms over his chest. "But then you noticed me there and started apologizing for some reason."

Tim's pulse is beating so hard and fast Tim's almost positive his heart is going to beat its way right out of his chest. "Did I say what for?"

Jason shifts, jaw clenching. "You said you were sorry that you 'weren't the right one' and then you grabbed a birdarang and tried to skin your hands."

Tim sighs, hoping it sounds more embarrassed than relieved. He's both right now, but he doesn't want Jason to think he's happy about trying to cut into himself. "Yikes."

"Yeah. So. Damian was a little freaked out after that fun display."

"Were you?" Tim wonders.

There's a pause then, "Of course I was freaked out. I mean, normally people see crazy shit like clowns or their own death, but yours seemed to be yourself. What the hell made you say all that stuff?"

"I don't know," Tim lies

He starts to sit up , ignoring the way his muscles scream at him in protest. Jason finally moves from his spot at the door when he notices what Tim is doing, quickly coming over to the side of the bed. Tim expects Jason to shove him back down on his back, so he can't hide his surprise when Jason instead helps him sit up, getting the pillows up behind his head to support him before he leans back.

He watches in disbelief as Jason fuses over the arrangement of the blankets and pillows around him from his seat on the very edge of the mattress. He even goes as far as to drag Tim's hand from his sides to rest in a more comfortable position in his lap.

The fussing puts him close enough that Tim can count the pale freckles that dust his cheek and smell the faint scent of leather and gunpowder on him. He takes a deep breath before he can stop himself and the sound has Jason looking up at him from underneath his eyelashes.

Whatever expression Jason sees on Tim's face has him drawing away to sit up straight, his ears start to turn red again. "What? I'm just happy you're finally moving around. It means I'll get my bed back soon."

Tim frowns at Jason. "How long was I out for?"

"A little over two days," Jason says, voice turning serious. "It took us about twelve hours to make the antidote and since then you've just been sleeping."

"And you took care of me that whole time?"

Jason shrugs a shoulder, reaching out to smooth the blankets near where Tim's legs are. "Well, yeah. My place was the closest safe place while you were freaking out, so I flew us up here while Bruce worked on the cure and the rest of the bats tried to find Scarecrow."

Tim laughs a little in disbelief. "How did you even get me up here?"

Jason smirks, looking equal parts arrogant and handsome. "Emergency jet pack."

"Emergency jet pack," Tim repeats slowly.

"What? You don't have one?" Jason teases.

Tim laughs again, a quiet chuckle this time. Jason echoes it. He's slowly starting to come down from the high of the pain meds, which unfortunately means he can really feel all his aches and pains. He's with it enough that he remembers one key word of Jason's retelling of past events he needs to focus on. "You said you tried to capture Scarecrow," he phases it carefully, like a question.

Jason grimaces. "He uh, might have escaped while I was busy trying to make sure you're okay. We'll get him though," he hurries to add, almost like he's trying to reassure Tim.

"Aww," Tim coos. "I didn't know you cared."

"Shuddup," Jason says. He doesn't deny it, and when he reaches out to shove at Tim with his hand, the pressure is so light it hardly moves him. Gentle.

"Just don't scare Damian like that again, okay?" Jason adds when Tim doesn't reply. "I don't want anyone else trying to rock the silver fox look a few decades early like I do."

"I'll do my best," Tim says, and fights to keep the smile he sends Jason's way from being too sweet.

 

Even after Jason deems him healthy enough that he can leave what is essentially Jason's fortress in the sky, it still takes Tim several days to completely recover from the havoc that the toxin and Tim himself wrecked on his body. But finally, a week after getting attacked by Scarecrow, Tim stands in front of his bathroom mirror, getting ready for the night. 

Becoming Caroline Hill is hard for Tim today. His fingers tremble, causing him to fumble with the latch on the voice modulator necklace, his eyes want to squeeze shut every time the mascara or eye shadow brush gets too close to them, and he can't seem to get the wig centered on his head. The part always appears a little to the left or right of what it should be, no matter how he tries to straighten it.

He's nervous.

Nervous because tonight is the night he's going to tell Jason. He has to. The only thing left in Scarecrow's case is finding out where it is Scarecrow is hiding, and none of the bats need to go undercover for a simple take-down assignment. A childish, scared, part of him wants to just leave it like this. Let Caroline Hill disappear from Jason's life and be done with it. No confrontation needed.

Tim knows Jason deserves more than that. Heck, he deserves not to have been lied to in the first place, but it's too late for that. And now all Tim can do his come clean, and say goodbye to the side of Jason he shouldn't have been allowed to see for good. He's not quite sure how Jason will react to the knowledge that Tim lied to him, but he knows forgiveness isn't going to be within his reach.

Still, Tim needs to do this.

His fingers continue to shake as he finishes the disguise.

 

He goes to the rooftop where they first met, around the same time, knowing that tonight is the night Jason usually makes the detour in his patrol that sends him toward Gotham General. It’s a chilly night and Tim shivers as he pulls his sweater tighter around him.

"Cold?" A voice calls out from the shadows, and even though Tim knew he'd be there, his heart jumps into his throat at the sound.

"A little," Tim admits, turning to face Jason as he walks toward him on the rooftop. His posture is relaxed and he's not wearing a helm or a domino, giving Tim a clear view of the way Jason's smile lights up his whole face. He has no idea what Tim is about to do to him.

"You can borrow my jacket it you want," Jason says, coming to a stop close enough to Tim that he can feel the heat that radiates off of him.

"No thank you," Tim hurries to say before Jason can shrug it off. "I won't be long. I came out here because I needed to talk to you about something."

"Okay," Jason says, slowly. He stares at Tim- _ Caroline, he's seeing Caroline _ -a moment, a searching expression on his face. "Is it a good something or a bad something?"

Tim sighs. "Bad," he says. "Real bad."

"Oh. Well are you..." Jason shifts his weight from one foot to the other. "Are you okay?"

For some reason this makes Tim laugh, it's an ugly sound, high pitched and hysterical. When Tim finally gets a hold of himself, Jason's eyes are wide.

"Caroline?"

Tim shakes his head. "No."

"No?" Jason sounds puzzled. "No what?"

He tries, but just like the time when he was still fighting off the drugs in Jason's base, the words float around his mind but don't quite manage to find their way out of his mouth. Frustrated, he rips the voice modulator necklace off and thrust it into Jason's arms.

He couldn't have expected Tim to do that, but Jason catches it with graceful fingers and holds it closer to the moonlight to inspect it, shooting Tim another smile, this one bewildered."Uh. Thank you, but blue really isn't my-"

"Jason," Tim says in his normal voice. It's noticeably deeper than Caroline's and no doubt recognizable to Jason in an entirely different way.

It’s almost like Tim pressed paused on a recording, the way Jason freezes up in front of him. His smile stays on his face long after it loses its purpose before it melts off agonizingly slow. The light in his eyes dulls out, and Tim can practically see the wheels turning in his head, probably replaying every single interaction he’s had with Caroline, putting this new knowledge behind them.

Tim's hands tremble-  _ did they ever stop? _ \- as he reaches for his wig, ripping it off in a frantic motion and letting his natural, much shorter hair fall back into place now that it isn't pinned back. He wonders if he looks ridiculous, no doubt recognizable as the Tim Jason knows, expect with a face full of makeup and women's clothes on.

"It's me. I'm Caroline Hill."

Besides his expression, Jason hasn't moved at all. He doesn't blink and Tim can't be sure if he's breathing. Desperate for Jason to react in some way, Tim reaches out. He doesn’t think ahead to what he’ll do when he reaches Jason, he just knows he needs him to move again. 

Jason unfreezes, taking a step back and clutching the necklace tight enough in his hands that Tim can hear the metal bits grinding against each other. “Carl-  _ Tim _ ,” Jason grunts and Tim chokes around Jason’s near mistake right along with him. “If you touch me right now I’m going to punch you.”

Tim raises his hands, palms facing out in surrender. “Okay. That’s fair.”

For a moment neither of them speak then, with his voice so quiet Tim can barely hear him, Jason asks, “Why?”

“The first time it was because you were hurt and I wanted to help but I didn’t think you’d let me if you knew who I was.” Tim wills Jason to understand. “I didn’t think I’d see you like that again.”

“And the second?”

“I was shocked and...curious. You were different toward Caroline than you were to me.” 

Jason makes an angry sound. “Of course I was. I didn’t know it was you.”

The combination of panic and guilt don’t blend well inside Tim. It rises up and makes his next words bitter and angry. “It wasn’t like I went looking for you either of those times,” he snaps. “I was trying to work. You’re the one that sought me out.”

He regrets the words as soon as they’re out of his mouth, especially when they make Jason look like he’s about to be sick, but he can’t take them back. 

“Do you really think that makes any of this fucked up shit any better? Do you, Tim?”

Tim shakes his head. “No, I didn’t mean-”

“What about the third time?” Jason interrupts him, speaking through his teeth. “What flimsy excuses have you come up with for that one to try to make yourself look like less of an asshole?”

And that’s the real kicker. Jason hadn’t sought Caroline out that night, Tim had gone to Jason on his own and purposefully deceived him, had watched as he took off his mask for Caroline and revealed one of his safe houses to her, had played him like a flute to get him to share his information with the bat clan and work with them. 

“I..” Tim’s throat clicks when he swallows and his eyes are starting to burn. “I just wanted to help.”

“Help,” Jason repeats, voice hollow. He lets go of the necklace, letting it fall onto the roof with a dull sound. “Fuck you, Tim.”

“I’m so sorry,” Tim whispers, but Jason’s back is already turned on him. 

 

Tim stands there on the cold rooftop by himself for hours, fighting urges to laugh and scream and cry. The truth is out and Tim is left alone in an odd mix of himself, neither one of them whole anymore. It’s like being under the effects of Scarecrow’s venom all over again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew. I think that was the most emotionally intense scene I’ve ever written haha. I thought and thought about how I wanted to do the reveal. I battled with knowing Jason is smart enough to figure out who Caroline really is and also knowing that having that in the story after all of the build up would feel sort of like a cop out. In the end I’m pretty satisfied with how it went down, and I hope you all are too! Thanks for sticking with the story this far 💕 there’s plenty more shenanigans to come!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of like a filler chapter for the next bit which is why it's so short but hopefully it's okay! I think Caroline will be making a comeback in chapter seven ;)

It's all rather anticlimactic. A week goes by and Jason doesn't do anything to retaliate. He's simply vanished from Tim's life, like he was never there to begin with. There aren't any signs of the Red Hood patrolling around Gotham in the days that follow either. Tim begins to wonder if he is in the city anymore after he arrests what he knows to be one of the men working for the Red Hood selling drugs to teens in a parking lot outside the building hosting a prom. Jason would have never allowed that.

Tim could find out, if he really wanted to. But if Jason needs this, to disappear for awhile, then Tim will give him that. In his mind, Tim understands the logic. Jason is likely hurt and embarrassed by the whole Caroline dibacal. But his heart doesn't seem to get the memo and it throbs almost constantly with an ache Tim cannot soothe.

Still Jason needs space, and Tim understands that he needs to give that to him.

There are clues that others have been informed of what happened though. Other people that don't seem to want to let it lie like Jason and Tim are both content to do.

Tim gets his first clue of this fact when he receives a package addressed to him while he's working at Wayne Enterprises. It’s a plain white rectangular box, with Tim's name written in sloppy, blocky letters on top. It doesn’t have a return address, which makes him instantly suspicious. He picks it up with careful fingers and hurries into his office with it. He doesn't open it right away, but instead inspects all corners of it to try to find any clues as to what could be inside. He doesn't notice anything odd until he places it up to his ear and hears a faint ticking.

He rushes to the nearest window in his office, shoving it open and throwing the package out of the window as far as he can. It makes it a couple meters away from the building before it explodes in a cloud of green smoke.

"What the-" Tim says before he gets of whiff of something that smells like a hundred rotted eggs. It's putrid and he gags as he slams the window shut to keep the smell out. "A stink bomb," he chokes. "Really?"

A quick scan of the security footage shows the culprit, someone dressed casual in a baseball cap and a baggy red hoodie. Neither do much to hide the man’s identity as he leaves the package at the front desk, but it quickly becomes apparent that the man isn’t trying to hide his identity. In fact, as he leaves, he looks straight up into the camera Tim is watching him through and scratches his cheek with his middle finger.

“Roy Harper,” Tim sighs, slumping back in his chair and rubbing a hand over his face. “Fuck.”

He’s on edge for the rest of the week, watching for any signs of Jason’s wayward friends coming for revenge on him. So naturally, the moment Tim drops his guard down to get some rest is when they finally strike again. 

Tim isn’t sure why he wakes up at first. He had been deep in a dreamless sleep before he suddenly comes back into full awareness. There’s a faint breeze and the smell of slightly polluted Gotham air coming from his right where the window in the penthouse bedroom is, even though Tim knows all his windows were closed whenever he went to bed. There’s also a faint prickling sensation along all of Tim’s exposed skin. He’s being watched. He doesn’t move, doesn’t let his breathing alter as he focuses and listens. There’s a rustle of fabric. A giggle. Tim opens his eyes and immediately spots a hulking figure standing at the foot of his bed.

“Hello!” Bizzaro shouts, and Tim answers him with a scream, scrambling back against his headboard and bringing his covers with him. Bizarro cocks his head at Tim. “Redbird am scared?”

_ “Yes!” _

“Oh.” Bizarro visibly deflates a moment before he puffs out his chest again. “Good!”

Tim tightens his grip on his blankets. “It is?”

“Yes?” 

“You don’t...seem sure,” Tim observes. He relaxes back against his headboard. Bizarro doesn’t seem intent to bring him harm, unless his goal was to give Tim a heart attack.

“Me am here to talk to Redbird about shovels,” Bizarro says, his voice booming through the room.

“Shovels?” Tim wonders. “Why?”

“Redher said so!”

“What about shovels? Wait.” Tim slides his hand underneath the sheets to the headboard behind him carefully and rests his hand on the hidden panel that holds his spare bo staff. “Are you guys planning on burying me? I know I messed up but-”

“No burying!” Bizarro gives a quick chuckle before his face twists into something fierce. “But if Redbird hurts Redhim again…”

Tim squeaks. 

“Redbird understand?”

“Uh huh.” 

Bizarro nods, satisfied. “Good.” And with that Bizarro turns and flies through the open window, leaving behind a properly shaken Tim. 

Tim’s patience finally snaps when he has to call a crane to lift his car off the roof of a building after he runs into a tall redheaded woman-literally runs into, as she shoulder checks him hard enough that he stumbles into a wall- that he’s pretty sure is the same height as the amazon woman Red Hood has been spotted working with before. 

He’s sipping his coffee, now cold as he watches the crane slowly lower his car down onto the concrete in front of a gathered crowd when he grows frustrated enough to call Jason. He doesn’t expect an answer, in fact he’s kind of hoping that Jason won’t answer his call so he can leave his rant into his voicemail and not have to deal with any direct interaction with him.

Jason answers his call after only three rings, with a sleepily mumbled “Whuzzit,” into the line.

Tim’s stomach drops and for a moment he’s filled with such fear that he loses his ability to speak.  

“Hello?” Jason continues, sounding more awake now. He must not have checked who was calling him before he answered, otherwise he likely would have ignored Tim’s call. 

“H-hey,” Tim croaks. He coughs, clearing his throat. “It’s Tim.”

A pause, then, “This had better be an emergency.”

“It’s not,” Tim hedges, because as much as he doesn’t want Jason to hang up on him, it’s not worth lying to him again.

“Well then, Tim,” Jason’s voice is dripping with false sweetness and Tim can feel any chance he has at Jason giving him the time of day ever again slipping away too fast. “I hope- and I really mean this, from the bottom of my heart-that you have a great fucking-”

“Stop letting your friends fight your battles for you!” Tim blurts, angry and panicked and stupid. A few people from the crowd turn away from the crane and Tim’s car to blink at him curiously. Nosy bastards.

Another pause, then dangerously, “What.”

Tim takes a deep breath and lets it out slow to calm himself. “I know you’re mad at me and it makes sense that you’d want to get back at me somehow, but can you leave your friends out of it? I’m going to miss work today because Artemis flew my car onto the roof of a building!”

Jason laughs. It’s loud, like it’s been startled out of him. 

“It’s not funny!” Tim says, but he’s fighting off a smile because Jason’s laughter is both contagious and beautiful.He loves the sound of it. 

“It’s a little funny,” Jason argues between chuckles, his laughter tinkling off like it’s about to stop and Tim doesn’t want that. 

So he says, “Bizarro visited me the other night. In the middle of the night, I woke up and he was standing at the edge of my bed. He threatened me with shovels.”

The laughter picks back up again and the smile Tim’s been fighting against breaks loose across his lips. He tilts his head back, closes his eyes, and tries his best to burn the sound into his memory in case he never hears it again. 

“Roy sent me a stink bomb.”

Jason’s laughing so hard he actually snorts now and Tim laughs along with him, trying to keep it quiet, secret. He doesn’t think he’s supposed to laugh along with a person who is laughing at and not with him, but he loves the sound he’s hearing through the phone so much. Oh god,  _ he loves _ -

“I really am sorry, Jason.” And their laughter dies out as a blanket of heavy silence drapes over them. 

Jason clears his throat. Sighs. “You already said that.”

“I know. I…” He thumps his head back against the concrete wall of the coffee shop building he’s leaning against. “I don’t know what else to say.”

“There’s nothing else to say,” Jason says, and the finality in his voice makes Tim spiral. “I didn’t tell my friends to come after you, by the way. They’re just protective.” He makes an amused sound. Not a laugh, but something. “You’re lucky you haven’t seen Kori yet. She was there whenever we were all drinking together and I told them about us. But I’ll tell them to back off.”

“Yeah, I figured it was something like that. Figured you probably didn’t want anything to do with me now.” Tim bites his lip and braces for Jason’s agreement. Silence is all he receives in an answer and somehow that stings more. “Well, I should-”

“Tim.”

“Yes?” It comes out quick, eager.

“Did anyone else know?” 

Tim hesitates. He doesn’t need clarification to know that he’s talking about Caroline and Jason, and how Caroline was Tim and Jason didn’t know. “Babs did. She was working with me while I was undercover. She heard our conversation once. The second time.”

“Ah,” Jason says. His voice is carefully blank. “Anyone else?”

“No,” Tim says, earnest. “I wanted to help you, Jason. There was nothing more to it than that.”

Jason makes a noncommittal sound. “Explains why Caroline wasn’t ever scared of me.”

“I’ve never been scared of you.” That’s a lie. He’s scared of Jason right now. Been scared this entire conversation that Jason will hang up and they’ll never speak again. 

Jason chooses not to comment on Tim’s admission. Instead he says, “Doesn’t really explain the sass though. Caroline had quite the mouth on her. Can’t really imagine it on you.”

Tim rolls his eyes. “Just because you have this idea in your head that I’m some sort of nerdy goody two-shoes all the time, doesn’t mean that I am. I can be bad when I want to be.” For some reason his voice goes deep at that last sentence and Tim feels himself flush at his own words.

Jason says, “Uh.”

Tim coughs. 

“I’m gonna go now.”

Tim bangs his head back against the brick wall again. This time little sparks flash behind his eyelids. “Okay,” he says, because what else is there to say? “Goodbye Jason.”

“Goodbye Tim.”

The phone line goes out. Tim stays where he is until his car is safely back on the ground where it’s meant to be and then he pays the crane driver double what they agreed on because his baby doesn’t have a scratch on her. Then, once the crowd dies down, he leaves. 

\----

They do catch Scarecrow, because they’re bats and that’s what they do. They find him staying in the chemistry lab of an abandoned high school, slowly gathering materials to make a new toxin that he plans on unleashing on innocent Gotham civilians. 

Jason’s there when it happens. Most of the rest of their gang is too, but Jason is the only one Tim has eyes for. The feeling isn’t mutual, because not once does Tim catch Jason looking his way. It’s understandable that Jason would want nothing to do with him now, but it doesn’t make the hurt Tim feels any less.

He seems to be doing okay and for that Tim is glad. His usual passive-aggressive, and downright confrontational when it comes to Bruce, jokes toward the rest of the bat-clan are present, just as they would have been any other night. Though no one but Tim seems to notice that Jason’s usual playful pestering of Tim is absent.

“You know,” Barbara speaks up through their shared communication line as they watch Scarecrow being dragged into a SWAT team vehicle, wearing a straight-jacket and a gag. “We would have caught him yesterday if someone hadn’t planted a virus in all my tech.”

“Oh yeah?” Jason says, casual. He takes his helm off and puts it between his hip and arm, rubbing his other hand across his domino mask and through his hair. “Sounds like a personal problem to me.”

“Hood,” Bruce growls, tall and dark and menacing in his Batman suit. None of them are phased. “This isn’t a joke. That tech cost millions to replace.”

“Good thing you have a few million to spare then, huh?”

“You jeopardized the mission! You gave Scarecrow a whole extra day to do-”

“Bullshit I jeopardized the mission!” Jason bows up along with Bruce and Tim thinks, here we go. Another one of their fights. Dick usually jumps in right about now, but when Tim looks over he’s busy leaning over Damian’s shoulder, entranced by something on the kid’s phone screen that Damian’s showing him. Steph and Cass are watching the exchange silently, arm in arm. Duke is putting in some headphones. Barbara is present, but silent in the communicators. “I knew he was here three days ago. Without the use of your fancy tech. He hasn’t been doing shit but blowing whatever connections and money he has trying to make this new formula.”

Bruce’s fists clench. “And you chose not to say anything because…?”

“Wanted to make you work for it.” Jason grins at him, all teeth and ferocity. It’s breathtaking.

Bruce takes a step forward. It puts them almost chest to chest, eye to eye. Tim can see a muscle ticking in Bruce’s jaw, a sign that he’s silently grinding his teeth, and Tim knows he’s about to say something he’ll regret later. 

“B.” Tim moves toward the pair, putting a hesitant hand on Bruce’s arm. “We need to search the area. Gather any samples of his failed concoctions before the police decide to. Gordon can only keep them out for so long.”

It’s an obvious distraction, but a distraction nonetheless. As Bruce begins to relax under Tim’s palm, Tim is taken back to years before, when he very first picked up the Robin mantle and Bruce was grieving and unhinged over Jason’s death. This was a regular situation for them back then and the familiarity of it makes Tim ache.

“Okay?” he presses when Bruce and Jason both seem content to remain in their stare off until the ends of time. 

Bruce grunts, turning his back on both of them while Jason scoffs, crossing his arms. 

“Whatever,” he mutters. He jerks his head toward Tim. “Didn’t ask for your help.”

“You didn’t have to,” Tim replies. He walks off to help Bruce so they can finish up, leaving a speechless Jason behind. 

Things aren’t okay between them now, but Tim is optimistic enough to believe that one day they will be. 


	7. Chapter 7

The ballroom of the hotel Belle Monico is filled to the limits of its capacity with the staff of Gotham General hospital and their families, plus reporters from many different news sources followed by attentive cameramen. The attention from the crowd is held by the chief physician of Gotham General that stands on the center podium while she gives a speech, thanking Scarecrow's victims for their bravery and perseverance during their recovery. 

It’s moving and emotional, enrapturing her audience enough that no one notices a blonde woman arriving late, stumbling only slightly before she rights herself and continues her path around the outskirts of the crowd

“These heels are way too long,” Tim mutters quietly, running a hand down his black dress to smooth out any wrinkles. It’s been almost two months since he last used this disguise and it’s pleasant in a strange way to see the gentle curves the bodice and padding give him, to notice the added weight of the wig on his head and his shoulders, and to feel the smooth touch of his freshly shaven legs.  

“I told you to practice before tonight,” Barbara says through the tiny communicator in his ear. “‘How hard can it be?’ you said. ‘I’ve faced armies of henchmen and stopped alien invasions. A pair of shoes won’t get the best of me,’ you said. ‘I’d much rather spend my time staring off into the distance and sighing dreamily as I think of Jason,’ you said.’”

Tim scowls, earning himself a nervous look from a waiter passing by with a tray of filled champagne glasses. Tim plucks a glass from him as he passes, raising the glass to his lips to make it seem like he’s merely taking a sip when he says, “I do not sound like that.” 

He never said anything about Jason either. Not out loud and not in front of Barbara, but he suspects Barbara already knows this. 

“Sure you don’t,” Barbara agrees unconvincingly. 

Tim sighs, taking a sip of champagne this time to help him get through the rest of the night. The chief physician of Gotham General has finished her speech and now Dr. Kellan has taken her place, making promises to help Scarecrow's victims recover in any way that he can. Listening to his sincere words, Tim feels guilty for ever having suspected him in the first place. Jason knew better.

“I’m not seeing anyone suspicious so far,” Tim says after Dr. Kellan’s speech has come to a close and a gentle flow of music begins to play through speakers on the ceiling. 

“Keep an eye out. We know that Scarecrow was being fed information from someone at the hospital. B thinks they might view this celebration of Scarecrow’s capture as an insult and make them want to do something in retaliation.”

Tim moves with the crowd as they begin to clear the center floor and several members of the hospital staff start to dance together. He hangs back against the wall and watches the events until he sees a familiar face hesitating on the edge on the dance floor and makes his way over to her.

“Hello Molly,” he says once he’s standing next to her.

Molly only takes her eyes off the dance floor for a moment to glance at Tim, then her attention returns to the dancers. “How do you know my name?”

“I’m a friend of Red Robin’s-” Molly’s head swivels back toward him so fast one of her pigtails whips up and smacks against her face before it falls back over her shoulder. “-he wanted me to check on you.”

“Do you know Batman too? Was he worried about me?”

“Uh.” Tim hears Barbara snicker in his ear but manages to keep his scowl in check this time. “Yes. He’s very worried. But Red Robin is definitely more worried than him. Definitely.”

Molly seems pleased at this. “Well, be sure to let them know that I’m doing okay. Dr. Kellan is very nice and my mom bought me a new dress for tonight.” She grabs the skirt of her pink dress and lifts it to show off the way it glitters when it catches the light at a certain angle. “I want to dance in it.”

“Why don’t you?”

“I need someone to dance with. Will you do it?”

And Tim couldn’t say no in the face of the smile she gives him even if he wanted to. He dances with her for two songs, making sure to prompt her to spin several times to pull laughs from her before a hand on Tim’s shoulder stills them. 

Jason doesn’t pay any attention to Tim other than keeping a firm grip on his shoulder as he gives a little half-bow to Molly. “Hello. Do you mind if I cut in?”

Molly moves away from them with a bit too much glee. “I think it’s been long enough since dinner that mom will let me have some desert now.”  

Molly leaves behind a silence in her wake that nearly suffocates Tim in its weight. He shifts uncomfortably and stumbles again on his heels but before he can tumble all the way to the floor, an arm appears around his waist, steadying him against a warm, solid body. 

Jason peers down at him, brow arched in equal parts amusement and judgment. “Alright?”

“Yeah. These heels are hell.” Tim’s feet are stable under him now but he can’t bring himself to lean away from Jason. “What did you mean when you asked to cut in?”

Jason doesn’t reply verbally, though his lips twitch like he’s fighting off a smile. Over his shoulder, Tim catches sight of Stephanie and Cass - also dressed to blend in with the crowd- spinning and twirling on the other edge of the dance floor. As Tim watches, Stephanie dips Cass and Cass’s face lights up in response.

“I thought maybe it might have been code for something. Or that you had some new information you wanted to share with me in private,” Tim clarifies.

Jason nods. He’s very handsome in a suit. It’s an expensive one too, made of deep blacks that show off his broad shoulders and shiny reds the light up his teal eyes prettily. It’s tailored to fit him perfectly, Tim wonders whether Jason bought it himself or Bruce bought it for him using his own measurements. They’re nearly the same size now. 

“What I meant when I implied that I wanted to dance with you,” Jason murmurs, still amused, still dangerously in control of Tim’s scattering pulse. “Was that I wanted to dance with you.”

Barbara says, “Oooooh,” in his ear and Tim reaches up to turn off the communicator immediately. 

“I’d like that,” Tim says to Jason, though he’s wholly unprepared for the way Jason’s hand feels when it slides into his. 

The dancing itself comes easily enough. Tim regularly attended parties with his parents and took dance classes as they saw fit. The music is slow enough that a simple waltz will do so, in a move that’s both a little reckless and playful, Tim takes the lead, watching Jason carefully for his reaction.

Jason accepts Tim’s lead without comment, following Tim’s steps without hesitation like he’d always expected Tim to lead. For the first time that night he’s thankful for the heels since they give Tim an extra couple inches in height, enough to see over Jason’s shoulder to guide them. He couldn’t imagine the disaster that would ensue if he had worn the flats and was leading them around the dance floor blindly. 

“So.”

“So.” The music switches to something slower and softer and Tim slows their dance to match the beat. “This is fun.”

“Yeah.”

Tim clears his throat. “We’re supposed to be keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.”

“There’s this thing called multitasking that some people can do and I mean, I don’t want to brag, but I’m pretty damn good at it.”

Tim grins despite himself. “Alright, asshole. See anything interesting?”

“Hmm.” Jason’s eyes don’t leave Tim’s for a second. “Bruce has a champagne stain on his tie he hasn’t noticed yet. Dr. Kellan is sneaking treats to Molly when her parents aren’t looking. They must have said no when she asked for desert, but Dr. Kellan has her back. An old drunk guy is hitting on Steph. He doesn’t notice Cass crouched underneath the dessert table tying his shoelaces together while he’s distracted.”

Tim snorts. “I’d bet ten bucks Bruce will act like he made that stain on purpose if one of us calls him out on it.”

“Okay,” Jason says, chewing on the bottom of his lip as he considers. “I’ll bet ten he disappears at some point and comes back with a new shirt on without anyone noticing.”

“You think he brought a spare shirt in case something like this happened?” Tim asks.

“Bruce? Yeah, ‘Course.” 

“That’s fair. You’re on.”

They fall into a comfortable silence as they continue to dance. Jason’s hands are warm against Tim’s lower back and hand. Tim finds his gaze wandering back to Jason and staying there. He knows he’s should pay more attention to the crowd around him but Jason’s messy curls distract him. It looks like he must have been running his hands through it at some point. Nervous habit, maybe?

“You look good tonight,” Jason says suddenly. His expression is carefully blank and he’s looking at something over Tim’s shoulder rather than straight at him. 

“Must be all the makeup,” Tim says. He’s proud of himself for managing to sound so calm right up until he missteps and mashes his heel down on the top of Jason’s foot. Jason barely winces but he does take the lead while Tim’s too busy trying to get his feet back where they’re meant to be. Tim supposes he’s earned it. 

“Nah,” Jason begins and Tim doesn’t follow until he adds, “You looked real pretty the last time I saw you too.”

Tim stares up at Jason. “I was in costume the last time I saw you.”

“I know.” Jason laughs through his grimace when Tim steps on his foot again. “Look, if you want me to stop complimenting you-”

“No!” Tim replies, perhaps too quickly. “I just don’t understand why you’re telling me this. Aren’t you still angry with me?”

“Funnily enough, your level of attractiveness doesn’t change no matter how irritated I am with you,” Jason’s nose and mouth scrunch up in a pout. “It can be annoying sometimes.”

“Well I think you’re pretty too,” Tim says, aiming for casual. “Or handsome. Or whatever.” _All of the above_ , he doesn’t say.

“Pretty or handsome or whatever. I’ll take it,” Jason says. His eyes are very bright.

“Can I tell you something?” Tim blurts. 

“Yeah. Sure.” Jason slows their dance to where they’re standing in place, gently swaying back and forth. 

“I like it. Dressing up and wearing makeup. I think about doing it even when I don’t need to disguise myself as Caroline,” Tim says to Jason’s tie because he’s feeling both brave and cowardly at the moment, wanting to express himself but not wanting to see Jason’s reactions to his words. “Not all the time. But sometimes.” 

“Then why don’t you?”

Tim frowns very hard at Jason’s tie. “Because I don’t have a reason to?”

“Isn’t your reason to do it because you want to?”

Tim looks at Jason then and finds none of the things he was worried about before in Jason’s expression. Everything about him, even the way he’s holding Tim against him is soft and open. It reminds Tim of how he would act around Caroline before he knew it was Tim. 

“You don’t think it’s strange?”

“No. I-”

“Excuse me.”

They both turn when the new voice pipes up to find Tyler standing behind Jason on the edge of the dance floor. He’s wearing grey dress pants, a white shirt, a tie that’s slightly crooked, and a thin smile. Something clicks into place then. Tim thinks, _oh oh oh_. 

“Tyler,” Tim says. He takes a small step back from Jason. He notices the loss of Jason’s warmth immediately and has to fight off a shiver. “How are you?”

“Good. Having fun?” He shares a nod with Jason, though neither of them introduce themselves. 

“Yeah.” Tim casts a curious look between Tyler and Jason. Tyler is standing unnaturally straight to try and match Jason’s height. Jason looks unimpressed with the display.

“I figured.” Tyler’s grin widens. “Considering the music stopped about five minutes ago and the two of you kept on dancing.”

Tim shares a grimace with Jason before looking around the ballroom. Fortunately only a few people appear to have noticed Jason and Tim’s strange behavior. Unfortunately one of them is Bruce, who is wearing both a clean, stainless shirt and an extremely unimpressed look. _Yikes._

The other two watching them are a pair of ladies, both whispering in each other’s ear and giggling, not even bothering to hide their fingers pointed toward Jason and Tim. Tim scowls at them until they wisely chose something else to focus their attention on.

“How do you and Caroline know each other?” Tyler is asking Jason when Tim turns back to them.

“Friend of a friend,” Jason answers vaguely. “Was there a reason you interrupted us?” Tim steps on Jason’s foot on purpose this time, not wanting his rudeness to scare Tyler off. 

Luckily, Tyler doesn’t seem bothered by Jason’s blunt question. “I was hoping to catch up with Caroline.” He sends a pointed look Tim’s way. 

Tim doesn’t see any real reason to refuse him, though he finds himself wanting to make an excuse to stay close to Jason. “That’d be nice,” he says, giving Jason’s arm a squeeze before he moves closer to Tyler. “Do you want to go somewhere more private?”

“Yes please.”

Tyler takes his arm and leads him away from both Jason and the dance floor. Tim follows, feeling the itch of Jason’s eyes on the back of his head until they leave the ballroom and enter the lobby of the dance floor. 

“I have a room,” Tyler tells him. Digging into his pocket and flashing it at Tim. “If you’d like we could go there. Just to talk.” 

“Okay,” Tim says after a beat. “Just to talk.”

Tyler grins at him again. 

 

* * *

 

They make it to Tyler’s room on the sixteenth floor without issue. Tim walks in first and pretends he doesn’t notice when Tyler quickly swipes the Do Not Disturb sign on the doorknob before he shuts- and locks- the door. 

“This is fancy,” he says, casting a quick sweep around the room to check for any threats. He finds nothing out of order. It doesn’t reassure him very much at all. “Did you have to save a while for it?”

“That’s quite a personal implication.”

Tim flashes a grin over his shoulder, taking note of Tyler’s position leaning against the door with his arms crossed over his chest. “I thought friends were allowed to ask personal questions.”

“Friends,” Tyler repeats, drawing the word out. “You know I asked about you when I hadn’t seen you in awhile. Looked you up in the database, even.”

“Oh yeah?” Tim turns to face him fully now, wanting to be ready for what he’s sure is about to come.

“Yeah. And, funnily enough, I didn’t find anything at all on someone named Caroline Hill.” Tyler cocks his head to the side and Tim thinks of the janitor standing in front of the bookshelf in Dr. Kellan’s office, watching him with a keen eye. “Why do you think that would be?”

Tim reaches up and scratches his ear, turning his earpiece back on with the movement. “You were the one feeding Scarecrow information about Dr. Kellan’s patients weren’t you, Tyler?”

“Tyler?” Barbara speaks up. “Who’s Ty- the janitor. Of course. I’ll inform the others.”

“Yes. Scarecrow paid well.”

“Of course,” Tim says in reply to both Barbara and Tyler. He rolls his shoulders and pops his knuckles. “And you brought me up here to tie off loose ends?” 

“Something like that,” Tyler reaches a hand into his pocket and pulls out a gun, holding it loosely in his fingers. “I have some questions first.”

“Oh. So we might be awhile then?” Tim doesn’t wait for him to reply before he drops down on the bed and starts fiddling with the strap on one of his heels. “My feet are sore,” he explains when Tyler gives him a bewildered look. 

Tyler appears frozen and unnerved by Tim’s lack of nerves as he watches Tim slide one of his shoes off, wriggling his toes on the carpet. “How many other people know I was involved?”

“Quite a few,” Tim says honestly. Tyler blanches and up, up, up goes the gun, pointed at Tim’s face with a shaky hand. Tim’s fingers continue working the strap on his other shoe. “Several people saw me come up here with you and who knows how many security cameras we walked past,” Tim points out helpfully.

He can see sweat begin to shine on Tyler’s temples and in the corners of his trembling mouth. Tim almost feels sorry for him. Almost. “Y-you don’t have any proof-”

“Yes I do,” Tim says, not unkindly. He slides his shoe off his foot, keeping it in his hand as he plants both feet on the ground. “You could run, you know? I’d say you have another three minutes or so before the police barge through the lobby. Give or take another two depending on how long it takes them to ask the clerk where your room is.”

Barbara sighs audibly in his ear.

Tyler glances over his shoulder and then back at Tim. “You’d let me?”

Tim shrugs, tapping the heel against his knee. “Maybe I’m feeling generous today.”

And down goes the gun. Tyler is too busy turning and unlocking the door to notice Tim standing up behind him. 

Tyler turns the knob and Tim takes aim. 

The door swings open and Tim’s arm swings forward. The shoe twirls fast enough it blurs in the air right up until the heel smashes into the back of Tyler’s neck, making him crumble to the ground. 

Outside in the hall, Jason relaxes from his defensive stance, staring down at Tyler’s body a moment before he shoots a wide-eyed, impressed look at Tim. Tim grins back at him, thinking that maybe he’ll grow to like heels in time after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you liked this, feel free to leave a comment and/or a kudos!  
> You can also find me screaming about fandom stuff at  
> [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/glaciya) and [Twitter!](https://twitter.com/glaciiya)


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